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In the shadow of the abandoned Michigan Central Depot building in Corktown, students from Lawrence Technological University and Southwest Detroit's Western International High School see an opportunity to improve the adjacent Roosevelt Park.

It's there that the nine undergraduate and graduate Lawrence Tech students and 39 Western International students, who have dubbed themselves the Roosevelt Proxy group, plan a building made from four reclaimed shipping containers as part of a multidisciplinary Lawrence Tech class taught by Associate Professor Steven Coy and Phil Cooley, owner of Slows Bar BQ in Corktown.

With the 40-foot-long by 8-foot-wide shipping containers and repurposed materials like floor boards, wall paneling and timber from abandoned Detroit houses, the group hopes the worn look of the building will complement the aesthetic of the hulking, century-old train station south of the park.

"The train station itself is really a rustic icon, so putting a new building in that space wouldn't do anything for the park," said Phil Lucas, a 23-year-old first-year MBA student from Monroe who is taking the class, called Design/Build Civic Engagement.

The pop-up restaurant Social Sushi would lease the building at a rate of about $1,000 to $1,200 per month, with rent payments primarily going toward park maintenance. Rent money could also be used for park improvements and events, Cooley said.

Although Roosevelt is one of the better-maintained parks in Detroit because of its city designation as a premier park, the group wants to help the city save on maintenance costs for things like grass cutting, and attract more people there.

"This isn't about us doing all the work," Cooley said. "The city is still mowing it and maintaining it."

Jay Rayford Jr., co-founder of Social Sushi, said the restaurant would have no more than 40 seats and that an official opening would be in mid- or late June, pending various approvals, including those from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission for a liquor license and Detroit City Council of site plans.

"We are hopeful that time frame is realistic," Cooley said. "We are hopeful that this is something that won't see a lot of resistance, something that people will rally behind."

He said the building is expected to be donated to the city when complete and that the council would have to accept the donation.

Various donors have contributed to the effort, including the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation, which chipped in $15,000. Cooley said a donation of an undetermined size from the Chicago-based Coleman Foundation is expected to be finalized this week. In addition, Roosevelt Proxy has submitted a request for funding from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Cooley said.

Total build-out costs are estimated at $200,000, with $100,000 coming from donated funds and $100,000 in donated goods and services. Several experts and contractors have donated goods or in-kind services.

Cooley said the building would likely be constructed off-site and then transported to Roosevelt Park and installed.

Coy and Cooley spent about eight months organizing and designing the course, for which the Western International students receive college credit, Crandell said.

"What they got was an eclectic, very enthusiastic team that represents almost every different department of the university — architects, industrial designers, graphic designers, motion graphics designers," said Breck Crandell, a 22-year-old first-year master's of architecture student who grew up in the Ypsilanti area but has lived downtown for the past four years.

For 17-year-old Carlos Gonzalez, a Western International senior, the project is an opportunity to improve the park and get his foot in the door at Lawrence Tech, where he has applied to attend in the fall.

"When you have a chance to do something good and learn something, go for it," he said.

A public meeting on the project will be held Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Ponyride, 1401 Vermont St.